It’s June, so time to start preparing for the summer's largest (and most physically challenging) cosplay event, The Comic Market. Similar post to last time but with a few tweaks, clarification on the metal weapon policy, and a more recent cosplay guide book link.

What is Comiket?
The Comic Market (Comiket for short) is the largest amateur comic market event in the world. Comiket now averages about 35,000 comic artists and 540,000 attendees. The event was founded in 1975 by fans and comic artists in protest of the barring of an artist from the Japan Comic Convention. From the very beginning, Comiket was an event “by fans for fans” with an ideal that the censorship of material or the barring of an artist was unacceptable. Although there have been some ups and downs in this regard, especially following the Miyazaki incident in 1989, the Comic Market has more or less remained a place for the freedom of expression through amateur comics and has come to embrace pc doujin works and cosplay.

General Cosplay Information
Although Comiket is free to enter, you must pay a Y800 fee at the changing room to get your cosplay guidebook and a registration sticker for that day. Without the cosplayer book you will not be permitted to enter the Cosplay Areas while wearing a costume.

At Comiket, any costume theme is acceptable. Everything is fair game from anime & games to historical costumes, TV dramas, Hollywood movies, and even original fashion. But there are restrictions on props, width of a costume, and where photos can be taken.

Photos of cosplayers can only be taken in the designated cosplay areas. You may wander around the event in costume, but stopping to pose for a photo outside the cosplay area is prohibited. When in the cosplay area photos are not supposed to be taken without first getting permission from the cosplayer. To post pictures on the internet you must likewise first ask for permission.

The cosplay areas are all outside so take the heat and lots of direct sunlight into account. There are a total of 3 different cosplay areas. The days in which each is open varies. See page 10 of the Cosplay Guide Book link for a map of how to get to each of the cosplay areas.

Cosplay Area 1 (Open all 3 days) is located just before the east halls and is best described as a courtyard. There are a few trees and a shaded area. It is the smallest of the cosplay areas, but popular. (Bottom left of the guide book map)

Cosplay Area 2 (Open on days 1&2) is in a parking lot located out past the west hall. The area is quite large and usually has a lot of free space since it’s not exactly photogenic. (Upper right of the guide book map)

Cosplay Area 3 (Open on day 3 only) is the old cosplay area located on the west hall's 4th floor terrace. The terrace is rather large and overlooks Tokyo Bay so it is very popular. (The arrow leading up stairs on the center right of the guide book map)

Costume Rules
Do not wear your costume to or from the event. You must change into costume in a designated changing room. This includes coming/going from the event wearing “excessive” makeup and “distracting” color contacts.

You can't apply hairspray in the changing room, it'd be near impossible to not spray someone else by accident. You also can't apply hairspray outside or in a bathroom. We figured that one out when we sprayed my hair orange outside and had to run away from security… Oh, and no running! There was an escalator accident several years back during Wonder Festival so Tokyo Big Site has become strict on this issue.

Wings: Wings are a no go. But for anyone who has been to Comiket you understand why. They’d just get destroyed anyway.

Cleavage Rule: Women aren’t to expose more than 1/3 of their breasts. Oh, and if you’re wearing a skirt, panty flashes are ダメ... See Cosplay Guide Book page 17, it dedicates a whole page to this.

Real Weapons: Metal weapons ARE permitted. But they cannot have a sharp edge. A metal replica sword is acceptable so long as it is exactly that, a replica. The swords sold at cosplay shops such as ACOS, Cospa, ect meet this regulation. But don't swing the sword around, mock fight, or even hint of it. Pocket knives and box cutters however will get you arrested. No joke.

Cosplay Weapons: Most cosplay props are fine, but remember it is very crowded. The rule is no longer than 2 meters (6.5 feet) in length. So a FF7 cosplay sword is good to go! Sword, Staff, Spear, Gun, all are fine so long as they are not sharp, are handled responsibly, and are put away in a bag when walking around.

Guns: Airsoft guns are 100% acceptable. This includes full scale RPG/rocket launchers. Just ammunition is not allowed. The weapon must be unloaded and you must not carry any ammo on you. You may not carry the gun while walking around. It must be kept in a bag/case. You can take it out when standing still.

Small hand held props are also acceptable, but “throwing” items such as my WWII German stick grenade are not to be held as if you are going to throw them. Having it on you is fine, but don’t pose like you will throw the item.

Musical Instruments/Noise Makers: Instruments are fine so long is it is not capable of making sound. Example; electric guitar is fine because it can’t be heard without an amplifier. Horns, brass instruments, and woodwind instruments are ok so long as you remove the mouth piece so that it can’t actually be played. Megaphones are ok, but batteries must be removed so that it cannot make noise. Whistles are supposed to be prohibited, but no one has ever said anything about my police whistle although I don’t blow into it either. In short, if it is supposed to make noise, make it so it won’t and you are ok.

Eye Patches/Vision Obstruction: Costumes are not allowed to impair your vision when you are walking (eye patches, helmets with visors, ect). But, this rule only applies when you are walking around. If you are just standing in the cosplay area for photos then you are perfectly fine. Once you start to walk around though you must take it off so that you're vision is not impaired in any way.

Bulky Costumes/Mecha: My understanding is that "oversized" costumes such as Gundams, ect. are not to be more than 2 Meters (6.5 feet) tall and no more than 1 meter (3.2 feet) wide. For more information on Mech stuff it would be best to contact Edo or Goldy.

Glass: Glass items & props are prohibited in the cosplay area. So no glass potion bottles!… yeah, this is another one we learned the hard way.

Dirrections
My recommendation is the JR Saikyo/Rinkai Line.
From Osaki Station (大崎駅) take the Rinkai Line going towards Shin-Kiba. Get off at Kokusai Tenjijo (国際展示場) and just follow the herd of people and anime posters.

Other options:
By Monorail: (from JR Shinbashi Station, 新橋駅)- Take the Yurikamome Line to "Kokusai Tenjijo Seimon" station (国際展示場正門駅).
By Kotsu Metro Bus - From Hamamatsu Chou Station (浜松町駅) to Toyko Big Site (東京ビッグサイト) about 40 minutes
By Airport Bus - From Haneda Airport (羽田空港) to "東京ビッグサイト" (Tokyo Big Site) ~ about 25 minutes

Tsumanne you are the man, thanks for putting all this info up! i will be there one day...most likely Friday or Saturday....if I can handle the heat but hey we all survived Nagoya last year this time so I think i can take it....

Yeah! Comiket is in a month and one week! I'll be going again this yr. I went last yr and it was so exciting and extremely hot xD. I hope to meet up with people there. I'll be staying in Kiba and just walking from the hotel to Tokyo Big Site.

Hey~ I'm thinking of my cosplay... which is more popular, Lily from Tekken or Claire Redfield from Resident Evil? Both I've always planned to do. With Claire, it would be cooler without having to wear a wig, but the sweat would ruin my hair, so maybe Lily is a better bet...

Hey~ I'm thinking of my cosplay... which is more popular, Lily from Tekken or Claire Redfield from Resident Evil? Both I've always planned to do. With Claire, it would be cooler without having to wear a wig, but the sweat would ruin my hair, so maybe Lily is a better bet...

Hi~! British holiday maker here. I've been to Comiket once before (in a very simple, almost casual costume) and I was thoroughly baffled by the whole event! This time I want to cosplay properly (albeit an easy-to-manage costume) and it would be great if my friend and I could meet up with some fellow English-speakers!
There's a small hitch in my plan though; we'll be in Kyoto on that weekend. However! Saturday 11th is actually my birthday, so I thought it'd be a memorable day if we actually attempt the long journey and get all geared up. Do you guys think it's do-able? Or am I chasing after a crazy dream here? XD

Crazy. Expensive. But very doable.
It can be done if you are willing to shell out the cash and be completely exhausted on Sunday.

What you'd do is take one of the first JR Tokaido Shinkansen trains from Kyoto Station to Tokyo Station. It's a 2~3 hour trip to Tokyo depending on whether you're on the special rapid or not and costs around Y12,000 one way I think. From Tokyo station take the JR Yamanote Line to Osaki Station. Then transfer to the Rinkai Line going towards Shinkiba. Get off at Kokusai-Tenjijo and follow the herd of people.

If you leave Kyoto at 6:00am or 7:00am you should probably get to Comiket around 10:00am~11:00am. That'd get you a full day as if you were already in Tokyo. After it's over just reverse steps and you'll probably get back to Kyoto 9:00pm~

It'll run you a good Y30,000 to pull it off, but it's actually very doable. I got called into work in Aomori while at Comiket once... So I've done the Tokyo Big Site to Shinkansen run before.

Ah, thanks for the advice! Luckilly, it won't cost us any extra because we'll have the Japan Rail pass to use anyway, so all of our Shinkansen travel is covered! X3 But I'm glad to hear you say that it IS achievable....I fully expect to be exhausted by Sunday though, haha! XD